We were very excited about arriving in Japan. Japan had been Dave’s suggestion for the trip and until that point it was never somewhere I had thought about going. However following research Japan and what it had to offer we were both very excited. As a British citizen we were able to stay in Japan for 6 months without a visa, however we only had 4-5 weeks due to when we were able to get our RTW flights to Hong Kong. Due to this and wanting to cover as much as we could we had mapped out our rough route on where we would visit based on locastions we had heard a lot about, the various festivals on at that time of year and where we were able to get to with our 3 week Japan Rail Pass, which allows you to use a variety of local transport and intercity bullet trains. We booked out various hostels, hotel rooms and air bnbs a few months before as they get booked up early and to try to save ourselves some money. We had made sure to book places with free cancellation up to a couple of days before and this allowed us flexibility if our plans changed or if we were able to stay with any couchsurfers (which turned out to be a very good plan!). Due to the maximum Japan Rail Pass only having 3 weeks we had decided to spend a week in Tokyo at the beginning of our trip, as there is so much to explore there and then start our Japan Rail Pass outside of Tokyo, we would then return to Tokyo for another few days before our flight to Hong Kong.
Another reason we were excited to arrive into Tokyo is because Dave’s dads work schedule had aligned and we were able to spend a few days in Tokyo with him. After a relatively easy flight but quite a long time trying to get through passport control we met at arrivals in Tokyo’s Narrita airport around 9.30pm. At the airport we had read you could get metro cards for Tokyo’s great metro system so we picked these up for 1500 Y for 72 hours. Narrita airport is about an hour from central Tokyo. There are various ways with different budgets into the city but as a treat Dave’s dad paid for us to get the train to Nippori where we then transferred to the JR line to Akihabara, the area where we were both staying. We dropped Dave’s dad off at his hotel before getting money out at a 7/11 and then checked into our capsule hostel for a few days- Grids. This was a nice clean hostel with capsules beds (giving you your own private space), very quiet and very nice bathrooms. Due to it being a very Japanese capsule hostel, men and women sleep in different floors so me and Dave went our separate ways to find our beds for the evening and to put our bags away. Despite it being late we went out and met Dave’s dad to explore Akihabara and to find some dinner. Akhihabara is the electrical district and is known for lots of bright signage and gaming places, however to it being very late at this point a lot was closed and the majority of signs turned off. We found a small noodle shop on a corner and decided to stop here for food incase there wasn’t much open. This was our first real experience in Japan where we had to choose our meal and pay for it via machine outside the shop and then hand the ticket over to the chef who made up our meal. We were pleasantly surprised that all the dishes were under 500Y as we had worked this out to be about our budget per meal (1500Y each a day on food). Outside the shop we had befriended a Japanese rocker who was very interested in us and joined us for our meal, which was another great introduction to the Japanese people. We had each chosen a noodle soup dish and slurped (as per custom in Japan) this hot delicious fresh food down. Deciding we didn’t quite want to call it a night we wander around for a few minutes before finding 1/3 bar where they had a range of different craft beers to select from the fridges on the walls. Whilst in there, there were a group of Japanese locals who kept looking over at us and then giggling. Eventually one of them came over and in broken English asked to touch Dave’s beard- which he allowed, where they were so excited. Apparently not many people in Japan have beards so it was a novelty. We called it a night after this and headed back to our separate accommodations at aroun2.30am- definitely an introduction to Japan!
After catching up on a bit of sleep, we met Steve at his hotel so Dave could sort out a back up of his images before joining him in a local Starbucks for breakfast. Due to only have a day with Steve we wanted to take him on a bit of sightseeing with us as he usually tends to see different parts of Tokyo as he is there for work. We spent the morning exploring the different shops and sites of Akiharbara- wandering around the vast Yodabashi store so Steve and Dave could look at cameras and other gadgets, and so we could visit various game places to play on various machines. Dave introduced us to the Taiko drum game, a firm favourite in Japan where him and his dad had fun competing against one another for a while. We utilised 7/11 to get fresh and cheap snacks before getting the metro to Shibuya to experience the ridiculously busy Shibuya crossing and to explore the restaurants and shops there. It was a very busy area with a lot of shops, lights and tall city buildings. We found a small restaurant on a side street and stopped here for lunch having pork ramen, dumplings and rice set meal (880Y). The pork ramen was exquisite and really hit that omami spot. We briefly headed back to Iwotomocho (the nearest metro stop to our hostel) so that Dave could get more batteries for his camera, after wearing it out taking lots of shots in the morning before then getting the metro to Harajuka. We wandered down the famous Harajuku fashion street of Takeshiti Dori looking at all the clothing and interesting but touristy shops. We stopped in 7/11 and got ourselves peach alcoholic cans (lots of alcoholic fruit juices sold in 7/11 and ok to drink in the streets and parks) which was really refreshing in what turned out to be very warm weather. After this we headed to Yoyogi Park, walking in the end after initially getting stuck trying to take a short cut but finding the trainline in the way. Yoyogi park was expansive but lovely, and a great place to wander round looking at nature and trying to cool off in the shade. We walked to Meji Shrine in Yoyogi park and got our a look at one of Japan’s beautiful temples. Meji Shrine is wooden and like lots of shrines in Japan has stations for cleansing your hands before you go up or into the temple. From Yoyogi we took the metro to Shinjuku this is a very busy, full on city area however in central Shinjuku there are lots of little alleyways with lots of bars, full of business men in the evenings. We walked through this area initially, wanting to check out Golden Gai bar / restaurant area as we had read it was good. We were there a bit too early and it was very quite, with a lot of places open and a lot of places also charging cover charges just to go in as they are so small. Instead we headed back to the general bar area of Shinjuku getting some beers (342 each). A touristy but fun thing we had planned for the evening just by there was to check out the Robot restaurant and Dave’s dad had treated us to the quite expensive tickets. This place was completely wacky, cheesy and crazy with a weird mix of floats, people singing and robotic features. Not something I need to do again, but something so randomly unique and Japanese I am glad we got to experience it. Pretty sure we overwhelmed Steve and he wasn’t quite sure what he had experienced! After what turned out to be a very full on day and with tired legs we got a couple of beers at a bar under Akihabara Station (500 each) before heading back for bed saying goodbye to Steve.
After a peaceful sleep we headed out into Tokyo again, getting a 7/11 breakfast of onigiri (filled rice triangles) and lattes- which were from the hot fridge areas. In Japan there is a whole range of hot drinks products that come in the fridges at minimarts or you can even get them in the numerous vending machines that are dotted all throughout Japan. I don’t understand why it isn’t a thing anywhere else, so useful! We took the metro from Iwamotocjo to Tokyo station where we came out of the exit to get to the Imperial Palace East gardens. We wandered along the border of the gardens and had nice views bridge views of the palace as we couldn’t enter. We had a lovely quiet walk from there to Yurakucho area which was full of clothing shops and boutiques as well as fun alleyways. We stopped for lunch under the bridge before getting into the main shopping mall district of Ginza where we had blackbean curry with pork cutlets (800) which was delicious. In Ginza we headed up to the rooftop gardens at the top of Mitsukoshi department store getting the views before exploring the fantastic bookshop and roof terrace of Ginza B. We headed into Uniqlo and picked up some more normal clothes and clothing for colder weather like jeggings, long sleeve t-shirts and jumpers that were still packable but would make us feel more comfortable exploring the cities. After this we headed back to Grids hostel to chill out, have a coffee and look into other things we wanted to do in Tokyo. We grabbed healthy and tasty dinners from family mart (7/11, family mart and Lawson are the three main minimarts in Japan that all to fresh meals, coffee, fried chicken as well as usual shop snacks- you can get them to microwave meals for you and in some there are little stooled areas to eat in too). We explored the Don Quito shop which is a random place full of anything you could ever want/need and lots you would never need too, but we did find a useful gadget that held my water bottle to my bag so I didn’t have to carry it all the time.
The following morning after grabbing breakfast at Lawsons we headed over to Arashio Stable. This is where the sumo wrestlers practice and at certain times/days you can watch them practice through the window. However on getting there we found out that they weren’t open. Instead we explored this very quite, peaceful area of Tokyo and it was interesting to see how much areas vary after just a few minutes on the metro- with this seeming to be a more residential area. We took the metro to Rygoku where we explored the Edo Tokyo museum (600). This was surprisingly good with it going through different time periods in Japanese history with lots of lifesize replica buildings and interactive exhibits. From here we also went to the Sumo museum. This was very small, especially after being in Edo Tokyo, but still interesting. We had lunch in Matsuya, our first experience of one of the cheaper chain rice bowl places, but there was nothing to complain about. We ordered our meals via machine again and handed the ticket over before sitting at a bar area. We had beef and rice bowls with a beer for 600Y. Even the fast food is delicious! We headed back to our hostel to pick up our passports before heading to Ginza tourist information office in order to exchange our online Japan Rail Pass tickets for real Japan Rail Passes. Whilst in Ginza we tried to see the famous sushi bar, that Dave had admired from a documentary (although is really hard to get reservations at) however it wasn’t open. Back in Akiharbara we explore more of the arcades with Dave playing street fighter and then visiting Super Potato to see all the old games consoles. In the afternoon we moved out of Grids Hostel and into a different part of Tokyo- staying at Asakusa Buttobi. This was a very small hostel only having a few bunk beds in a couple of rooms and had a very traditional feel to it. We decided to stay here as it gave us a chance to stay in a different area of Tokyo and explore Asakusa. We grabbed dinner at Tenya Tempura chain where we had set meals of tempura, rice and soba noodles for 750.
We had read a lot about the best ways to see Tsujku fish market, with a lot of people saying you really have to see the infamous auction that happens about 4am. However due to limited public transport running over night/ early morning the only options we would have had to do this would have been to get an expensive cab or to try to stay in a nearby gaming café or local food restaurant and camp out for the evening before then waiting in a queue outside for it to open all night. With them only letting in a certain amount of people there was no guarantee even with all that that we would actually get in. Given this and the fact that we were already quite exhausted from exploring Tokyo and doing a lot of walking we decided this just wasn’t worth it. Instead we headed over to Tsjuki fish market for about 7.30am. We explored the outer market areas with lots of stalls and restaurants advertising fresh fish. This area was bustling and we didn’t feel that we had really missed out on anything by not seeing the auction. We stopped at one of the sushi places for a fresh tuna set (seared, fatty, lean etc) for 1500Y. Expensive but worth every mouthful, it literally melted in our mouths. We tried some sea urchin (called uni?) from a stall which Dave quite liked but was not for me. We made our way towards the fresh market and stopped for a coffee in a small local coffee shop which was needed. We walked through what was left of the huge fish in the massive warehouse docks of the market (100Y) before heading back to chill out at the hostel and do some washing. We ate lunch in Asakusa having fried katsu before exploring the area. Asakusa which also had a very traditional but fun feel, helped by its gorgeous temple, carts taking tourists around and a lot of Japanese tourists that rent and wear traditional clothing to explore the areas in. There were lots of people outside the small bars enjoying beers on the streets, so we just had to stop to have one too (350Y). We explored Sensoji temple area which was stunning. In the evening we headed back to Shibuya on the metro enjoying the crossing, exploring riombeich alley and heading to a restaurant for fried gyozas and seared pork. On the way back to the hostel we grabbed a cheeky donut from the shop by the metro.
In the morning we headed for a filling beef bowl breakfast at Matsuya before walking through Asukusa (tourist area and modern area). From here we took a train to the Skytree. We explored the Skytree mall which had good views out over the city and of the Skytree itself as well as a pokemon shop. We then headed to Ueno park, stopping at Lawsons on the way to pick up lunch so we could have picnic lunch in the sun at the park. Whilst wandering around the park exploring different areas we also saw that Tokyo Zoo, that was there, had a Tokyo Citizens Day which meant the zoo was free entry. Loving a zoo, and not having a price tag holding us back we had a quick walk around the city zoo seeing a range of different animals. We generally mooched around Ueno city area after this before heading back to our hostel to give our legs a few hours off. In the evening we headed back to Shibuya to explore the large 24 hour magazine and bookshop there, enjoying looking at all the different free gifts you could get. We wandered through Shibuya looking at all the different fashion styles and street performers. We had food at Kamakura (gyoza pork bowl and fried chicken bowl) before playing more taiko drum games at the VR mall.
Our last day in Tokyo was due to be a special one for Dave. Dave’s dad had asked a colleague in Japan to order and get Ghibli studio tickets (which are reasonably priced to pick up from Japan itself but sell out instantly or horrendously expensive to get through a tour agency). After a quick family mart breakfast we got the metro to Shinjuku where we then took the JR Chuo Rapid Line to Makati. From there it was a 15 minute walk to the Ghibli museum. Out timeslot was 11.40 and we ended up being first in the queue. It was a magical place that had been create has an omage to the Ghibil characters and sets. Even the tickets themselves were film slides from Poco Rosso and Castle in the Sky. We watched a shorted animated film about a puppy before exploring the house and the exhibitions. Looking at the moving stills and artwork from many of the filmslooking at a giant catbus, exploring the food in film exhibitions before going up on the rooftop to see one of the film statues. Whilst there I also bumped into a couple of people I knew at school back home- it is always funny how small the world is! When our time was up we headed back to Shinjuku for ramen lunch before wandering around Kabukicho looking at the red light district and the love hotels. In the late afternoon we headed up the Tokyo Metropolian Government building for free for great views out over the citys. In the evening we wandered around Asukusa soaking up the vibrant atmosphere having snacks at local street food vendors, exploring the wonders of Don Quioto superstore and then having pancakes for dinner (390). That ended our first period of time in Tokyo, the following day we would start using our JR Pass to explore more areas of Japan- first starting with north of Japan.
Alex
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